This invention generally relates to safes, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for monitoring a safe having an electronic lock.
Throughout history, people have developed locks and/or safes to protect currency or other valuable items. As electronics continued to advance, electronic locks were developed. Such electronic locks made the use of locks and safes more convenient. However, as the method of doing business of various stores and businesses has changed, the needs for locks, including some electronic locks, has changed. In particular, while locks or safes may prevent criminals from stealing currency, such locks do not prevent accounting errors or the theft of currency by individuals who have access to the safes. That is, once a conventional safe is open, transactions related to the contents of the safe are not recorded.
As more stores have extended hours, including 24 hour stores, more employees have access to a store""s currency. Similarly, as more stores continue to grow and add chains or franchises, these stores have a greater amount of currency and a larger number of locations to monitor. While security systems provide information of occurrences in a facility, such as a store, such information provides little guidance as to specific occurrences of an electronic lock of a safe at relevant times. That is, the security recordings would have to be reviewed in isolation to determine what a security system recorded during a particular transaction at a safe.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for monitoring a safe having an electronic lock.
The present invention generally relates to a method of monitoring a safe comprising the steps of providing an electronic lock for the safe, recording information from a security device in an area proximate to the safe, and marking security information from the security device during a transaction with the electronic lock.
According to another aspect of the invention, an apparatus for monitoring a safe comprises an electronic lock incorporated in a safe, a control unit coupled to the electronic lock, and a security system coupled to the control unit.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a system for monitoring a safe comprises an electronic lock coupled to a safe, a security device coupled to the electronic lock, a local computer coupled to the electronic lock; and a remote computer coupled to the local computer by way of a communication network.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for monitoring a safe having an electronic lock by an external control unit.
It is a further object of the invention to monitor a safe having an electronic lock from a remote location.
It is a further object of the invention to couple a security system to a control unit associated with an electronic lock for monitoring the activity of a safe.
It is a further object of the invention to create an audit trail related to transactions of a safe recorded by an electronic lock.
It is a further object of the invention to coordinate information from a security device and an electronic lock in response to a duress condition recorded by the electronic lock of a safe.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.